Big Brother Australia 8
|image = |version = Australia |host = Kyle Sandilands Jackie O |season = 8 |prizemoney = $250,000 |numberofhousemates = 20 |numberofdays = 86 |winner = Terri Munro |runnersup = Rory Ammon |network = |announcers = Mike Goldman |seasonrun = April 28, 2008 - July 21, 2008 |sponsor = |numberofepisodes = 93 |viewership = 0.86m |companionshows = Big Brother's Big Mouth Friday Night Live |castphoto = |previousseason = Big Brother Australia 7 |nextseason = Big Brother Australia 9 }} is the eighth version of Big Brother Australia. After 85 days, Terri Munro was crowned the winner over runners-up Rory Ammon and Ben McCallum. Background Auditions Auditions opened in late 2007. People wishing to audition were required to post a video audition of themselves on the official Big Brother website. Voting closed on January, 7 2008. The three people with the highest number of votes would be guaranteed a place in the House with the top 50 others to go through a second selection process. The season featured a new audition process similar to the format used in the earlier seasons, where people wishing to audition sent in a tape rather than attending cattle call audition sessions. For the first time in Big Brother Australia history, the public could vote which housemates they wanted to see in the House before the start of the season. Promotions Promotional advertisements for the new series premiered on April 6, 2008 featuring a short video of former Australian Prime Minister John Howard criticizing the show in 2006, stating that Channel Ten should "get this stupid show off the air", followed by the tagline "I Don't Think So" from the eponymous Kelis track. Broadcasts Starting this season, new hosts Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O replaced Gretel Killeen, who had hosted since the show's launch in 2001. The nomination and eviction processes were changed for this season and those elements were both covered in the same weekly episode of the program. In previous seasons nominations and evictions were conducted separately and each had a weekly special dedicated to them. A new panel discussion program titled Big Brother's Big Mouth was hosted by Tony Squires and Rebecca Wilson. This show was similar in format to the UK Big Brother panel show of the same name. It screened Monday nights, initially at 9:30 pm before being moved later due to low ratings. Big Brother: UpLate did not air this season due to Ten's late night programming schedule being used for Indian Premier League cricket telecasts in May and June. In comparison to 2007's broadcast, this season saw 11 hours less free-to-air telecasts a week, solely due to the absence of Mike Goldman's Big Brother: UpLate. Television broadcast episodes featured a slightly updated logo and graphics, and much shorter theme music intros to each show. The free internet streaming was also changed. The time allotted to free streaming was cut to three five-minute blocks per day. The full-membership subscriptions cost around A$33.00. Nomination and eviction voting format In the previous series of Big Brother, housemates nominated two other housemates for eviction and viewers then voted to actually evict. In this season the nominations were based on viewer votes collected through the week. The public were only able to vote for which housemate to save from eviction. The three housemates with the fewest save votes were nominated for eviction on Sunday. The housemates then voted to evict one of these three. Housemates gave two points to one person they want evicted, and one point to another of the three. The winner of Friday Night Live had the power to remove one nominated housemate from the nomination lineup, after which the housemate(s) in fourth place moved into the nomination lineup. In awarding eviction points, the winner could award four points to one person, and two points to another. After five weeks, the nomination and eviction process reverted to the traditional format of all previous seasons: the housemates nominate, and viewers vote for the housemate to be evicted. Unlike the preceding few seasons, there was no save vote for nominated housemates; viewers could only vote to evict. At the start of the season, Big Brother announced to the housemates that "snap evictions" will be executed at various points during the season. Terri was evicted on the first night in what was described as a "snap eviction", but she was soon returned to the house. Two of the three viewer-voted housemates, Barney and Michael, were quickly removed in what was described by the show's makers as a "snap eviction". In the final week, housemates were asked to vote to evict two housemates in a surprise "snap eviction". Alice and Travis were "evicted" and moved to another section of the compound. Later, it was revealed to Alice and Travis, and then the other housemates, that this eviction was fake and Alice and Travis returned to the main House. The House The House was rebuilt with a new layout as has occurred with most seasons of Big Brother Australia. The bedroom contained just one big bed for all housemates to share. The garden featured a Volkswagen Type 2 in which one housemate had to sleep. There was also a vending machine in the garden. The housemates could buy various items such as snacks, and sunglasses. Coins for the vending machine were distributed to housemates as a reward for sustaining good behavior. Australia 8 Houseplan.png|The house plan for the season Australia 8 House - 1.jpg|Living Room Australia 8 House - 2.jpg|Dining Room Australia 8 House - 3.jpg|Bedroom Australia 8 House - 4.jpg|Diary Room Australia 8 House - 5.jpg|Locker Room Australia 8 House - 6.jpg|Outdoor Kitchen Australia 8 House - 7.jpg|Hot Tub/Cool Tub Australia 8 House - 8.jpg|Rope Tree Australia 8 House - 9.jpg|Kombi Van Australia 8 House - 10.jpg|Farm Yard House guests There were several celebrity guests appearances featured during this series. Carson Kressley arrived and gave the housemates a makeover to promote his new show, How to Look Good Naked. He stayed for only several hours. Former housemate Rima returned briefly late in the season. Rima was originally a housemate, but left after breaking her leg on the first Friday Night Live games. She returned on Day 63 with a special task of telling the housemates that there was a mole among them. She left on Day 66 after a four-day return. Pamela Anderson entered as a guest on Day 73, then returned the following day for a special task. She did not stay in the house overnight. When asked how much she was paid to do the show, she said, "Much more than I am worth" and "I don't want to say how much but it is a lot." The day after her first Big Brother appearance, Anderson took part in a campaign against alleged KFC cruelty outside Southport KFC Restaurant, Gold Coast, where she hand-delivered a letter to the manager opposing expressing her concerns. Anderson's appearance generated the highest ratings of the entire season to that time. Twists *'Snap Evictions:' Throughout the season random evictions will take place without notice unlike seasons prior where evictions would happen weekly. **'Opening Night Eviction:' On the first night before the housemates were permitted to enter the main house, the housemates had to evict one of their own. That evicted housemate would leave immediately *'Housemate Hand Grenade:' After their eviction, the evicted housemate will be given a power or punishment to give to one of the remaining housemates in the game. *'Head of Household:' This year, the Head of Household will be the winner of the Friday Night Live games. *'Public Nominate, Housemates Evict:' For the first five weeks of the season, the public will nominate three housemates and the housemates will then decide themselves who to evict. *'House Guest:' On Day 7, two house guests entered the house. These are not official contestants, however they will have the chance to be housemates if they pass their task. Housemates Friday Night Live Nominations/Voting History Housemate Hand Grenades Prize Money History Game History Trivia Ratings Reception After the telecast of the season's third eviction show, critic Andrew Mercado summarized the 2008 series eviction shows, which he described as in previous seasons being a viewing highlight of the series, as having descended into "just a boring, hateful shemozzle, where Kyle insults everybody around him (housemates are psychos, the crew are work experience and the audience is a 'pack of pigs')." The 2008 season showed a marked downturn in ratings for the program. Both the Daily Show and the eviction shows rated significantly lower than previous seasons. Ratings for the first 2008 eviction were half those achieved by eviction shows during the program's peak. Academic Alan McKee singled-out the departure of previous host Gretel Killeen as having weakened the series. McKee judged that Killeen had successfully provided the show's "moral centre". Of the replacement hosts, McKee said that "Kyle and Jackie O just don't serve the same purpose. Jackie is quite limp and Kyle prides himself on just being wrong—he will always say the wrong, obnoxious thing and hurt people." By the eviction show on June 1, 2008, the program's ratings were said to have "almost flatlined on Sunday night, dropping below 500,000 in the key demographic along the East Coast." Host Kyle Sandilands called in sick for this program and his co-hosting duties were handled by usual series announcer and narrator Mike Goldman. Sandilands missed his second eviction show the following week, June 8, 2008, after again calling in sick, with a severe chest infection. It was reported that hundreds of fans took to message boards calling for Mike Goldman, his stand-in for the 1 June and 8 June eviction episodes, to become a permanent eviction host. Some speculated Sandilands had already been sacked; others accused him of faking his illness. A spokeswoman for the series said Sandilands was expected to return for the following eviction show. Another commentator, Peter Craven, described the 2008 season as being increasingly gimmicky. The visit by Carson Kressley to make over the housemates was seen as an obvious gimmick; when Kressley made a second appearance in another makeover episode screened several days later, Craven felt that it looked forced. The visit by hypnotist Peter Powers (Craven erroneously named Derren Brown as the hypnotist visitor) was described as being "riveting", but also as turning Big Brother into more a variety show. The choice of eccentric housemates and an appearance by Corey Worthington was seen as an attempt "to highlight the superficially weird" while the absence of Uplate and Uncut for 2008 was judged by Craven as being a mistake. Craven suggested the worst mistake of the season was replacing Gretel Killeen, whom Craven praised for being "formidable and charismatic" and skilled at her role, with new hosts. Craven judged Kyle Sandilands the more intelligent of the new hosts, but noted he gave no impression of having kept up with the show, as Killeen always did. Craven believed Sandilands to be "sensationally ill-suited to the format, which requires a warm embrace of the Big Brother ethos. By contrast, Jackie O, as the good cop was seen all vapid smiles and gooey attentiveness." In a news report where the series was described as suffering a "ratings slump" and where the new hosts were said to have been unable to save the show, former host Killeen was quoted as saying she refused to watch the current season and refused to comment on its low ratings. "I haven't watched it because I don't want to be in the situation where I am not telling the truth and I know people will want to know my opinion of it and I think it is much better not to have seen it," Killeen said. "I don't think it's dignified for me to come back and say this should be done like this and this should be changed." Cancellation The season rated poorly, leading to the cancellation of the series, announced July 13, 2008. Ten's chief programmer, David Mott, admitted the series had recently experienced "audience erosion" and widespread criticism of the new hosts. Mott reasoned that after so many seasons there were few new surprises in the format, leading to reduced viewing figures. Mott defended the new hosts saying that the ratings for eviction shows held up. The lowest-rating component of the season was the Big Mouth late night weekly panel show. Its audience slipped to the half-a-million mark and it was moved to a later time slot. A new series of Big Brother was announced in 2011. References External Links *Official Website (Archived 5/10/2008) *Wikipedia Page Category:Seasons Category:Australia Seasons